Erik is a baseball fan who has been attending baseball games and snagging baseballs regularly since 2008.

2009 Season Final Stats

The 2009 season was my breakout year as a ballhawk. I started to be more aggressive in asking for balls from players, and chasing down batting practice home runs. In 2008, I was more or less a stationary ballhawk.

Here’s a chart tracking my struggle to maintain a 5.00 balls per game ratio. I ended at 5.09 with a strong September, despite floundering in the 4.70-4.80 range for most of the summer.Tossing out the two stadiums (Citizens and Nationals) where I only attended one game, my best stadium was Progressive Field, where I averaged 6.54 balls per game. Its a safe bet that I’ll be attending more than 13 games there in 2010.

My worst stadium was Camden Yards, where I averaged a meager 3.25 balls per game in 4 games, despite having early entrance tickets. I’ll try and focus more on Nationals Park in 2010 if planning a trip to the Baltimore/DC area.

At PNC Park, my home stadium, I put up a 4.85 average, which is respectable considering there were 8 non BP days included in the 59 games I attended there. I began to stay away though when batting practice was threatened, so as not to jeopardize my streak.

That streak now stands at 96 consecutive games with at least one ball.

The following are trademarks or service marks of Major League Baseball entities and may be used only with permission of Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. or the relevant Major League Baseball entity: Major League, Major League Baseball, MLB, the silhouetted batter logo, World Series, National League, American League, Division Series, League Championship Series, All-Star Game, and the names, nicknames, logos, uniform designs, color combinations, and slogans designating the Major League Baseball clubs and entities, and their respective mascots, events and exhibitions.